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Voter ID lives on

Published by Tim McNulty on .

Schoolchildren as the candidates in York, Pa.

Opponents of Pa's voter ID law said the state's continuing promotional campaign after the law was suspended in early October would confuse voters, but a judge shot down their attempt to halt the campaign. Looks like poll workers are confused too.

The lawyers at Election Protection say they're getting reports from Pgh and Philly voters being told that they need photo ID to cast a ballot -- but those complaints aren't being lodged with Allegheny County elections chief Mark Wolosik. Mackenzie Carpenter and Paula Reed Ward have the overview on the bumps in the road today, including a machine in central Pa that was switching Obama votes to Romney.

Kids at Pitt are getting frustrated at long lines and instructions to vote by provisional ballot if their registrations can't be found, reports Lauren Daley at the Pittsburgh City Paper.

Romney, Ryan and Biden all stopped in Cleveland today: The Blade says the biggest story entering election day were poor early voting numbers for Democrats.

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Quick Pgh stop for Romney

Published by Tim McNulty on .

From Moriah Balingit:

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney arrived at the Pittsburgh International Airport for his final stop of the campaign this afternoon, but his two-minute appearance was not public.

Mr. Romney arrived around 3:10 p.m. at Atlantic Aviation Services and his arrival was only open to members of the press. A few supporters were there chanting "USA!" From there, Mr. Romney was whisked away in a motorcade.

His campaign declined to say where he was going, but he arrived at Republican offices in Green Tree.

The governor's marathon election day also includes a stop in Cleveland -- also closed to the public but open briefly to reporters -- in a last-ditch effort to pick up votes in a crucial swing state.

He started his day by voting with wife Ann in Belmont, Mass., and is scheduled to end the day in Boston.

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Philly judge: Yes to GOP voting inspectors, no to Obama mural

Published by Karen Langley on .

The AP is reporting that a Philadelphia judge ordered polling places to accept all certified voting inspectors after complaints that Republicans had been excluded:

PHILADELPHIA -- After complaints that dozens of Republican voting inspectors were prohibited from polling places, a judge on Tuesday issued an order declaring that all certified voting inspectors be allowed at the polls.

Deputies from the city sheriff's department were dispatched to enforce the order by Common Pleas Judge John M. Younge, according to a statement from Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams. The judge also ordered that a mural of President Barack Obama, which was featured on the wall of a school serving as a polling place, be covered up.

The state GOP sent around this photo of the mural:

Obama in Philly poll

According to a copy of the order, also distributed by the party, the judge ordered the top election official at the site to cover the mural with "blank paper or other similar material so that the content of the mural is invisible in its entirety for the duration of the election on November 6, 2012."

 

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Perry County machine didn't like vote

Published by Karen Langley on .

A Perry County machine was recalibrated after a complaint that a vote for one presidential candidate was registering for the other, a Department of State spokesman said.

A person operating as "centralpavote" posted a YouTube video -- viewed nearly 600,000 times -- of a machine  registering a Romney vote when the Obama box was selected.

The user wrote: "I initially selected Obama but Romney was highlighted. I assumed it was being picky so I deselected Romney and tried Obama again, this time more carefully, and still got Romney. Being a software developer, I immediately went into troubleshoot mode. I first thought the calibration was off and tried selecting Jill Stein to actually highlight Obama. Nope. Jill Stein was selected just fine."

Department of State spokesman Ron Ruman said the agency got a call midmorning about a voting machine highlighting the wrong candidate. (He could not independently confirm which candidate the machine was registering.) But he said the problem has been resolved.

"That machine was recalibrated and returned to service," he said. "It's working fine."

No other reports of uncooperative machines, he said.

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AG candidates cast their votes

Published by Laura Olson on .

Freed

Shortly after 7:30 a.m. this morning, Republican attorney general candidate David Freed could feel pretty confident that he had two votes in the bag. 

He, his wife, and their three children were at their polling place in Camp Hill, Cumberland County, where Freed cast his ballot before several brief vists to voting spots in Chester, Berks and Lancaster counties.

Speaking afterward outside the polling location -- which also used to be his children's elementary school -- Freed said he was pleased with the effort his team put into the now-ending campaign.

"The closing arguments are in, and we're waiting for the jury to come back," he said, shaking hands and thanking voters as he answered questions from reporters. "It's going to be a good day."

He said he learned a lot travelling the state and meeting people over the last 11 months, adding that he saw a lot of enthusiasm from voters during the final sprint.

"We last went for a Republican presidential candidate in 1988, which was my first election," Freed said, adding that he voted absentee from college that year.

"I've been pretty heavily involved in every [election] since, and it's an incredible amount of energy that's out there ... I think it's going to be close everywhere."

Democratic attorney general candidate Kathleen Kane also voted this morning near her Scranton area home, with her husband and two sons in tow, according to her Twitter feed.

She'll be holding an election night party in downtown Scranton, while Freed will be awaiting returns at a hotel in Camp Hill. We'll have updates from both locations this evening.